Oil Trades Near $45 as Saudi Stockpiles Climb Amid Supply Glut

Oil traded near $45 a barrel in New York as Saudi Arabia’s oil stockpiles climbed to a record, adding to signs that the global oversupply may persist.

Futures were little changed in New York after declining 4.7 percent on Friday. Commercial petroleum stockpiles held by the world’s biggest crude exporter increased to 320 million barrels, the highest since at least 2002, according to data Sunday on the website of the Riyadh-based Joint Organisations Data Initiative. Venezuela and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore stability in the oil market, Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said on Twitter over the weekend.

Oil is down more than 25 percent from this year’s closing peak in June amid a global oversupply that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicts may keep prices low for the next 15 years. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has sustained output amid the glut, producing above the group’s target of 30 million barrels a day for a 15th month in August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

West Texas Intermediate for October delivery, which expires Tuesday, was at $44.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 15 cents, at 9:44 a.m. Seoul time. The contract lost $2.22 to $44.68 on Friday. The volume of all futures traded was about 22 percent below the 100-day average. The more-active November future rose 14 cents to $45.16.

Brent for November settlement was 6 cents higher at $47.53 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Front-month prices slid 1.4 percent last week. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $2.37 to WTI for November.

Saudi Arabia cut back oil production by 1.9 percent in July, the first drop since February, to 10.36 million barrels a day, according to the JODI data. Crude exports slumped 1.2 percent to 7.28 million barrels a day.

Money managers’ net-long position in WTI rose by 14,821 contracts to 147,678 futures and options in the week ended Sept. 15, leaving them the most bullish in two months, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed.